What do you think of the 450RR as a "Dual Sport" bike? There's always a bunch of talk on this forum about the perfect dirt-biased dual sport. Light and fast, relatively comfortable, long fuel range, a bit of wind protection, etc. Some of us go so far as ride a Rally-converted dirt bike as our everyday ride.

Cost-no-object, how do you think the KTM rally bike stacks up to other dualsports you commonly see? Also, how much does it differ from, say an enduro bike like Neduro rode last year, as far as weight/handling/power goes?

__________________"What these people need is some mental psychology."-Bonnie Abbzug

What do you think of the 450RR as a "Dual Sport" bike? There's always a bunch of talk on this forum about the perfect dirt-biased dual sport. Light and fast, relatively comfortable, long fuel range, a bit of wind protection, etc. Some of us go so far as ride a Rally-converted dirt bike as our everyday ride.

Cost-no-object, how do you think the KTM rally bike stacks up to other dualsports you commonly see? Also, how much does it differ from, say an enduro bike like Neduro rode last year, as far as weight/handling/power goes?

I'd love to answer that question Duke but it needs time to give it the response it deserves.

Leave it with me.

OR, I could just say, "of course it is the best bike ever and you need one, and this one will be for sale after Dakar to help pay debts off and you need to buy it"

Busy preparing my Rally bike for the Dakar, with just a couple of weeks to go before the bike shipped I was just thinking how battered my wheels were and how I needed to change all the wheel bearings and true them up for the race. I had all my wheels out, picking the best ones for January and was just a night away from getting them sorted when I got a call from a past supporter of mine TG “Woody” Witte from Woody’s Wheel Works in Denver Colorado. Woody runs a company building and repairing wheels and has been doing so since 1973 and he supported me in my Baja 1000 race effort back in 2007.

Woody had stumbled across the fact that I was racing the Dakar on the forum www.AdventureRider.com and immediately wanted to help. I had the opportunity to meet Woody in person back in 2008 and it was great to hear from him again. To cut a long Skype conversation short, he really just wanted to provide me with the strongest most reliable wheels for the Dakar. Reliable hubs, super strong rims, heavy duty spokes, the ultimate lacing pattern and all hand built with the same attention to detail that Woody knows I put into preparing my bikes.

I opted for a setup that I know well as I have had the exact same wheels on my KTM 950 for the past 60,000miles. The wheels that have pre-ran the Baja 1000, crossed the sahara desert, raced two full season’s of UK Rally Championship and much more without even adjusting a single spoke or having to replace failed cush drive rubbers. They are rebust and they work so I jumped at the chance to run these wheels.

T.G. “Woody” Witte the master wheelsmith behind the company is always looking at ways of making his wheels lighter, stronger and better wheels than others. For more info you can visit his web-site here www.woodyswheelworks.com. From a racing background himself he prides himself on ensuring that no wheels exit their facilties that he would not race on himself. In his years as a road racer and sponser of racers, Woody developed the concept of changing the lace pattern on spoked wheels to eliminate breakage. The concept of SuperLacing was born and bred on the racetracks of Colorado but is now seen all over the world.

So what have we got? Well, here is the spec of my wheelsets for Dakar 2013

I’ve also had the rims sealed and taped to prevent sand and dust entering the mousse and to give the mousse lube the best chance of finishing each day in tact and preventing my mousses overheating.

I’d really like to thank Woody for taking the step of contacting me and offering up his support for Dakar 2013 just at the right time. I’d also like to thanks the entire crew at Woody’s Wheel Works including Zack, Mike, Toby, Jerod, Chris and Jil for making it happen double fast. From the day he called me to the day the wheels arrived at my place for fitting and trial runs before scrutineering was just 10 days.

I’d also like to thank JJ and Keith at Galfer who worked with Woody and myself to provide the braking solution for Dakar. As with the wheels I’d used Galfer disks before so was confident in their performance and happy to have them on board for the race.

Why do you changed the stock Akra from the KTM 450 RR to a longer Akra pipe ?

Ciao Mic.

Mic,

I spent many hours testing on the dyno as I was not 100% happy with the performance of the bike straight from the factory. After many different configuration changes to both jetting and exhaust and testing the bike in the World Championships in Sardinia, racing in the UK and altitude simulations, I preferred the feel of the bike with this pipe and jetting option. It offers a nice hike in mid-range torque, less dB noise (something that I struggled with at the World Round) and minimal top end loss.

I know people always look for top end power but to be honest, I don't want to screaming my engine at 11,000 rpm all day long so for my riding style and approach to Dakar, I opted for this set-up. Many people asked me the same question at scrutineering and it attracted a lot of interest.

That's what you get when you sell a Factory bike to a Chartered Mechanical Engineer

I would consider bringing the collar, the stages up high in the Atacama desert get freezing cold even in the summer, literally.

I'm sure youre on top of it Pyn, but yes, it can get very cold at high altitude. As soon as the sun isn't shining, I can tell you its f-f-freezing. And the other thing is that due to the dry air, its very de-hydrating (but you dont tend to notice, because of the cold).

Another tip if you do happen to have any serious issues with altitude sickness, its worthwhile knowing that just descending as little as 300m for a while can help greatly.